Foreign-trained Doctors

[LiveUninhibited]

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I was hoping somebody could clarify how foreign doctors are treated in America. So I understand that if they come from a foreign medical school but complete residency in America, they are treated basically the same.

However, I once volunteered in a free clinic where a few of the doctors were from Germany and German-trained. However, everything they did had to be initialled by an American MD. I am not sure if this requirement is general to American law, or if it was just the organization. Does this mean that foreign-trained doctors can only work as de facto PAs in America? How does that work, and why is this the case? I thought German doctors were well-trained, though very underpaid.

 

[kdburton]

I was hoping somebody could clarify how foreign doctors are treated in America. So I understand that if they come from a foreign medical school but complete residency in America, they are treated basically the same.

However, I once volunteered in a free clinic where a few of the doctors were from Germany and German-trained. However, everything they did had to be initialled by an American MD. I am not sure if this requirement is general to American law, or if it was just the organization. Does this mean that foreign-trained doctors can only work as de facto PAs in America? How does that work, and why is this the case? I thought German doctors were well-trained, though very underpaid.

You have to do a residency in the US if you want to independently practice medicine in the US. I think there are a couple countries where there are exceptions, but I'm not sure which ones (i.e. Canada). And even in those cases you'd have to take all three steps of USMLE

 

[NonTradMed]

Foreign doctors need to take the boards and do a residency in the US. As far as I know, you can practice as an independent doctor after that. I think the German docs you saw may not be licensed in the US to practice and needed a licensed physician overseeing their work. My parents have friends who are foreign doctors and they had no problems practicing independently.

 

[Mr hawkings]

Like the above posters alluded to, being well-trained and being licensed are two different things. One cannot arbitrarily declare that just because a physician was trained in country "X" means that they meet the standards of the new country or are familiar with country-specific expectations and standard of care. A lot goes into being an independent practicing physician in a specific location beyond what you learn in medical school.

It does not mean the US thinks other countries are sub-par in medical education. It just means we would like everyone to be on the same page when it comes to patient care. And the only way to do that is to make everyone go through the same licensure process.

 

[fMRI]

With the exception of Canadian trained doctors, people have to complete residency in the US to practise here. Likewise, US-trained doctors CANNOT work as doctors in Europe without taking equivalency exams or passing national exams there.

Example: in a (northwestern) suburb of Paris is a so-called "American Hospital". With about 200 beds, they got 7 or 8 US-trained doctors there who were granted an exceptional lic to practice in France without having passed exams in Europe first (and they can only work on the hospital premises). I guess one person holds a Japanese lic. The rest of the staff holds European (mainly French) medical credentials.

BTW, doctors with a European lic. (from EU countries) can work in other European countries.

Another notable exception: Doctors taking care of troops stationed in Europe. They too can only work on the base.